SQL Server 6.5 and 7.0

Warning If you try to change service account information, such as the
account name or the password, while SQL Server is clustered, the service cannot start
when you try to bring the cluster group online. In this scenario, you may have to
manually remove SQL Server completely from both nodes, secure
your SQL Server databases, and then reinstall SQL Server.

To change the service
startup accounts for a clustered computer that is running SQL Server, follow these steps:

Make sure that the SQL Virtual Servers resource group is
owned by the node from which it was initially installed.

Run the Cluster Failover Wizard and choose the option to
remove the SQL Server
virtual server.

Change any service accounts for the following services to the account that you want:

MSSQLServer

SQLExecutive

SQLServerAgent

Note This account must be a valid domain account and should be in the
Local Administrators group on both nodes of the cluster. Also, the account must
have the following rights:

Act as part of the operating system

Logon as a service

Logon locally

Run the Cluster Failover Wizard to add the SQL Server
virtual server again.

SQL Server 2000

Although the account that is used is automatically assigned the
appropriate privileges during the installation process, if the account is
changed, it (or the Administrator group) must have the following attributes:

It must be a domain account.

It must be a member of the local Administrators group
(Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 only).

It must
have the following rights:

Act as part of the operating system

Logon as a service

Replace a process-level token

The service account for the Cluster service must have the
right to log in to SQL Server. If you accept the default, the account [NT
Authority\System] must have login rights to SQL Server so that the SQL Server
resource DLL can run the isAlive query against SQL Server.

If the service account for SQL Server is not an
administrator in a cluster, the administrative shares cannot be deleted on any
nodes of the cluster. The administrative shares must be available in a cluster
for SQL Server to function.

Warning If you must change the account under which the SQL Server
virtual server runs, you must use SQL Server Enterprise Manager. Using this tool to
change the service password will make the change on all the nodes and grant the
necessary permissions to the selected user account.

If you do not use SQL Server Enterprise Manager to change passwords, full-text search may not function
properly, and SQL Server may not start.

If you are using
Kerberos Security Support Provider Interface (SSPI) authentication in a Microsoft SQL
Server 2000 and Microsoft Windows 2000 environment, you must drop your old service
principal name (SPN), and then create a new one by using the new account
information. See the "Security Account Delegation" topic in SQL Server 2000
Books Online for details about using SETSPN to do this.